Saturday, April 29, 2006

I played hookey yesterday from everything I should have been doing and created in my workroom almost the entire day.

I picked up a copy of Transparency Art by Stampington &Co. and came across a Slide Mount Frame by Denise Lombardozzi. I closed the book quickly before I could be influenced any more by her creation, headed up to the stamp store for the largest slide mounts I could find and went to work.

I played with inks, iridescent color dyes and some color washes before finding the right combination for what I wanted. This verigated patina was the result and I love it. I altered the colors on several silver hinges, printed out my five photos from my great grandmother to my daughter adding a bit more color to the photos, the more recent the person pictured. I dug out my stash of transparency stickers, bits of lace and other ephemera and began to layer for each photo. Once I had them arranged, I made sure that the view from front and back was equally pleasing and then sealed the frames.

I still have some work to do and will post the rest when I am finished.

We had a major miscommunication with our friends and they are actually coming next weekend. Now I have today and tomorrow to play in my workroom (and I have no idea why this is printing with underlines!)

I spent most of yesterday working on a Hinged Five Generations Panels project inspired by a slide mount frame I saw in the book, Transparency Art by Denise Lombardocci. I close the book real fast so I wouldn't do a copy of hers, ran to the stamp store for some slide mounts (the largest I could find) and started to play.

I came up with a mix of color washes, inks and dyes to attain the look I wanted for the slide mounts and then ran the transparencies off the pictures, putting more and more color into the pictures as they progressed from my great grandmother on to my daughter's picture. I used hinges to echo the connections from one generation to the next.

I love the result but am not finished yet...am thinking of putting names and dates of birth/death on each. Will post a picture tomorrow.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

We have our friends, Kim and Jerry, who moved from st. Louis to Titusville coming in town for the weekend. Can't wait. We are trying to decide if we want to go up to Pine Island for Sat. for lunch and the art galleries on Matlache or head down to Tin City in Naples. Kim and Jerry haven't been to either one and who knows when we'll get back before we move.

I use to coach with Jerry in St. Louis and Kim's daughter was one of my first cheer squad captains. We all go way back and they are so easy to have as company.

I need to finish up my prototype for the class I'll be teaching at Whims. It is nice to be able to design something other than two page layouts for classes. Teaching for Hilltop Memories has been such fun to start with. Doing the Vamp Book and the mini Cruise album were a blast to design and teach. This is more and more where I want to be...teaching and having fun and making a few bucks in the process.

Off to Curves. We finally have some sprinkles here...yeah! I'd ride Hank in the rain but am afraid of him rusting...got too much invested in that bike for that to happen. Which reminds me, I really need to get back on track and start adding miles per ride if I am going to ever make my goal of 30 miles in one day.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

When my sleep is interrupted by a few hours of wakefulness as it was last night, I am next to worthless the following morning. I am going to take full advantage of this and make this a "do as little as possible' kind of day. Cheers to all.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Today, our amazinly incoherent gov. stated that he is considering oking the bill currently before the legislature allocating funds for the illegal alien children (those not born here) to attend Florida state universities at in-state costs. This 'act of kindness' will cost Florida residents (most of whom are on fixed incomes...me!) 6million dollars. Now, a kid who has been born and raised in any one of the other 49 states who applies to any Fl. school has to pay out of state fees.

So, the message to other state students is to do what Key West did...secede from the Union, declare war on the U.S., surrender and apply for aid.

Sad state of affairs when illegals have breaks that citizens, naturalized or native born, are denied.

One or two more pics from the cruise and I promise more sunrise/sunset pics from Paradise and more recent fun events.

Because it was so lovely to have our balcony door open, we left it that way when the ship was moving. This did cause a small problem in that it would take two of us to open the door from the inside or our! This made for some funny incidents. Here are Anne and I doing our best!

This past weekend was really fun. I drove up to St. Pete's (and over that nasty bridge) where my daughter met me at Kip's. She and I went to her school's happy hour and I got to meet even more of her co workers than I had at the Fall Festival I attended with her. Her group reminded me of the one Gene and I had in St. Louis, called Gene's Team by our Activities Director. Lots of fun times. Before Kristen picked me up, I went to Whim So Doodles to introduce myself to the staff and pick up my supplies for my class there. Another nice bunch of people!

Sat. morning, bright and early, Kristen dropped me off at Ruban Rouge for our all day class. It was good to see that cutie, Chrissy again and I was pleasantly surprised that the owner recognized me enough to call me by name. The classes were lots of fun and the EK products very cool. Linda and I got some great class ideas from the products alone. Kath, Kip, Linda and I made some new fun friends and hope to see Gina and her dd at a Hilltop Weekend.

Friday, April 21, 2006

This was a pic of our "neat and tidy" cabin on the morning we arrived back in Ft. Lauderdale. About the only time our cabin looked like something someone's mother would be proud of is when the cabin crew would come through and give us a clean up. Guess we were too busy having fun!

It is Friday and I leave in about an hour heading north. First stop is Kip's in St. Pete's. She and I will be heading over to Whim's when she gets off work and I'll be picking up some things for the sample for my class there in June. After that, my dd, Kristen, will pick me up at Kip's and she and I are off to have cocktails with some of her fellow teachers. Then home to her house.

Sat. am bright and early and I am off to Ruban Rouge for the EK Extravaganza all day class with Kip and Kath. Back to Kip's for the evening and home on Sunday.

Sunday, e and I are heading downtown to the park by the river for River and Blues festival. We went last year and had a blast. We went far too early and missed the Mambo Brothers, whom I adore. This year, the Yard Dogs (another fave of mine), Juice and the Mambo Brothers don't even start til one which is after when I get home.

I love staying busy and having fun things to do. Will report in on Monday how the weekend progressed. Now, if I could find a way to avoid driving over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, I'd be a truely happy camper.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Anne, Janet (who couldn't make it), Kath and I opted for the balcony room on the cruise. Sure glad we did.This is the view we had with our coffee in the mornings. And our neighbors, Linda and Judy, were even smarter than us. They had room service deliver their breakfast every morning!

The only morning we had them beat was when our morning coffee was delivered by everyone's favorite waiter, Sergay!

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

I would love to share all my delightful pics of the cruise but Harry, my stubborn 'puter, won't allow me to upload these at this time. Thank heavens, Mama's Guru, the son, is due in for Easter. He will fix it I hope. Stay tuned for the next exciting episode as How Harry Turns! lol

Thursday, April 06, 2006

All I have left to do is put my clothes in the suitcase. It is five am here in Paradise and I am sitting here typing in the dark. I have resisted, so far, running into Anne and Teri's rooms, jumping on their beds and yelling, "Get up, get dressed and get in the van. It's party time!" I did start the coffee in hopes that might move them to action but so far not a sound.

Thinking of getting into the hot tub w/my mug of java and just waiting for day break. I can't wait to get on the cruise and let the fun begin. See you all soonest~

Monday, April 03, 2006

London's revenge! The news last night has stated that London will be sending a warning to all English that our little town here is dangerous to travelers and suggests they visit elsewhere. We do have high traffic accident rates (tourists and snow birds often do not think the local traffic laws apply to them) and we've had some shootings this year so the statistics the London papers are quoting are correct. We've also been hit by at least 3 of the 5 hurricanes that have passed through in the last couple of years so that information is also true.

I can hardly blame London for eliciting this revenge. The Supe here has to be a blooming idiot. An now, as a topper, the district is going ahead with plans to build apartments on a school owned parking lot...why not just pay the teachers enough to buy their own home or rent where they chose? Ack!